NOTTINGHAM, MD—A retired Baltimore County couple collected a $20,000 Mega Millions prize on December 19 – one that took a different route to reach them than all of their earlier Maryland Lottery prizes.

They are fans of the multi-state jackpot games, Mega Millions and Powerball, buying tickets for each game’s twice-weekly drawings. The December 17 Mega Millions drawing delivered the big win for the retired engineer and his wife, a retired hospital administrator.

“We always play the same two games,” they explained. “And always from the same store.” While they’ve won small prizes plenty of times following this routine, lottery luck had avoided the couple for the last several weeks.

“As I was going out to get the tickets on [on Dec. 17], my wife suggested that I try a different store,” the husband said. “Just something to change our luck. So I did.”

He bought the lucky ticket at the 7-Eleven store located at 4139 East Joppa Road in Perry Hall/Nottingham (21236). Early the next morning he found himself awake, unable to fall back asleep.

“I was up anyway, so I went to the computer to check our tickets,” he said. “There were four of our numbers there. $10,000! Then I remembered that I’d paid the extra dollar for the prize multiplier. $20,000! I thought I was going to have a heart attack.”

The Nottingham couple said the family has had some recent struggles, and their Mega Millions win might just signal a change in their luck.